Tennessee police find body of man ejected from plane

This photo shows a Zodiac 601 aircraft similar to the one involved in Friday's incident. (FAA)

Authorities in Tennessee have found the body of a man who was thrown from an experimental aircraft while an instructor was teaching him to fly.

Bradley County Interim Fire Chief Troy Spence said search crews located the deceased student pilot at about 11:45 a.m. Saturday. He declined to release the man's name.

Collegedale Municipal Airport employee Lowell Sterchi told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the man was being trained by an instructor in his Zodiac 601 aircraft on Friday when the canopy came off. The instructor also was not identified.

The man's seat belt was not fastened and he was thrown out of the plane over the East Brainerd and Apison areas of the county.

The plane took off from the airport on Friday afternoon. It's not clear how long the plane was in the air before the man was ejected.

Sterchi said the instructor landed the plane and was not physically hurt. He said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been notified.